Light-Powered Motor Fits Inside a Strand of Hair

For more than 30 years, researchers have been trying to create small gears in order to construct micro-engines. But progress stalled at 0.1 millimeters, as it was not possible to build the...

Advanced Thermal Inspection with Pulsed Light Emitting Diodes (PLED) Technology

Engineers at NASA Langley Research Center have developed a cutting-edge thermal inspection technology that enhances defect detection on low-emissivity surfaces by eliminating false readings caused by infrared reflections. Read on to learn more.

A More-Efficient, Less-Wasteful 3D-Printing Method

MIT engineers have developed a resin that turns into two different kinds of solids, depending on the type of light that shines on it: Ultraviolet light cures the resin into a highly resilient solid, while visible light turns the same resin into a solid that is easily dissolvable in certain solvents.

Ultra-Sensitive Sensor with Gold Nanoparticle Array

Researchers have developed a new type of sensor platform using a gold nanoparticle array. The sensor is made up of a series of gold disk-shaped nanoparticles on a glass slide. When an infrared laser is pointed at a precise arrangement of the particles, they start to emit unusual amounts of ultraviolet light. Read on to learn more.

A Compact, Mid-Infrared Pulse Generator

Physicists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created a compact laser that emits extremely bright, short pulses of light in a useful but...

A Neuromorphic Exposure Control System to Revolutionize Machine Vision in Extreme Lighting Environments

A research team has recently developed a neuromorphic exposure control system that revolutionizes machine vision under extreme lighting variations.

New Product Launches and Technologies to See at Photonics West 2025

The SPIE Photonics West 2025 technical conference and exhibition returns to San Francisco's Moscone Center, January 25 to 30, providing attendees the opportunity to learn...

Spiral Ladder-Inspired Tool That Allows Precision Control of Light Direction and Polarization

Researchers have designed a spiral ladder-inspired tool that allows precision control of light direction and polarization to control the direction of the emitted beam and the polarization of the light, while using a precisely engineered resonance of the structure. Read on to learn more.

An OLED for Compact, Lightweight Night Vision

A new type of organic light emitting diode (OLED) could replace bulky night vision goggles with lightweight glasses, making them cheaper and more practical for prolonged use, according to University of Michigan researchers. Read on to learn more.

Coating Hides Temperature Change from Infrared Cameras

If the outside of clothing or a vehicle were covered with the coating, an infrared camera would have a harder time distinguishing what is underneath. Read on to learn what this means.

The Latest Advancements in Optics

Optics are used in a vast range of applications in virtually every sector of human endeavor, from scientific microscopes to medical diagnostic imaging, from automobile headlights to telescopes pointed at the stars. Read on to learn about their advances.

Light-Based Tech to Navigate the Moon

RMIT University’s Arnan Mitchell and University of Adelaide’s Dr. Andy Boes led an international team to review lithium niobate’s capabilities and potential applications in the journal Science. The team is working to make navigation systems that help rovers drive on the Moon — where GPS is unable to work — later this decade.

Photonics West 2024: 5 New Technologies on Display This Year

The largest optics and trade show in North America, SPIE Photonics West 2024, is just a few days away from its annual collection of exhibitions, conferences and courses at San...

A Temperature-Modulating Robotic System

A research team has developed a robotic system that can be unobtrusively built into the frame of a standard honeybee hive. Composed of an array of thermal sensors and actuators, the system measures and modulates honeybee behavior through localized temperature variations.

Photonic Crystals Bend Light as Though It Were Under the Influence of Gravity

A collaborative group of researchers has manipulated the behavior of light as if it were under the influence of gravity. The findings, which were published in the...

A Nanophotonic Electron Accelerator Breakthrough

Using lasers to accelerate electrons within a photonic nanostructure constitutes a microscopic alternative with the potential of generating significantly lower costs and making devices...

Quantum Dot Breakthrough Could Create Cheaper Infrared Sensors

Scientists from the University of Chicago have demonstrated a way to create infrared light using colloidal quantum dots. The researchers said the method demonstrates great...

New Products: September 2023 Photonics & Imaging Insider

LWIR Thermal Imaging Cores LightPath Technologies Inc. (Orlando, FL), has introduced through its subsidiary Visimid Technologies, new high framerate long wave infrared ("LWIR")...

New Microchip Could Monitor Earth’s Climate, Human Health

A team at Delft University of Technology has built a new technology on a microchip by combining two Nobel Prize-winning techniques for the first time. This microchip could measure distances in materials at high precision — e.g., underwater or for medical imaging.

Strengthening Electron-Triggered Light Emission

A wavelength of visible light is about 1,000 times larger than an electron, so the way the two affect each other is limited by that disparity. Now, researchers have come up with a way to make...

Ultrafast Beam-Steering Breakthrough at Sandia Labs

The ability to control light using a semiconductor device could allow low-power, relatively inexpensive sources like LEDs or flashlight bulbs to replace more powerful laser beams in new technologies.

Light-Based Optical Computing for Ultrafast Electronics

Physicists achieved optical switching of a light signal at attosecond speeds to reach previously unattainable data transfer speeds.

AI Image Analysis, Li-Fi and Quantum Processor Among 2023 PRISM Awards Winners

Photonics West 2023 featured the 15th annual gathering of the Prism Awards, a ceremony hosted by SPIE that honors and recognizes industrial innovation in...

Ignition Achievement Gives US New Opportunity to Lead World's IFE Research

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)’s historic achievement of fusion ignition Dec. 5 at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) positions the United States...

Micro Light-Emitting Diodes for VLC

Light-emitting diode (LED) solid-state lighting technology offers low power consumption and cost, small size, and a long lifespan. Plus, it’s environmentally friendly.